Armor plate
Unknown Artist
ca. late 8th–late 7th century BCE
Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
7/8 × 7/16 × 1/8 in. (2.2 × 1.1 × 0.25 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Implements
Culture & Period
Assyrian · Neo-Assyrian
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1957
Accession Number
57.27.78
Art Historical Context
This diminutive bronze armor plate, dating to the late 8th to late 7th century, offers a glimpse into the formidable military world of the Neo-Assrian Empire. Measuring just under an inch across, this tiny fragment—likely from a larger suit of scale armor—was crafted for an Assyrian warrior during the height of the empire's expansion across the Ancient Near East. The Neo-Assyrians, renowned for their conquests from Egypt to Iran, equipped their armies with innovative protective gear, and such plates interlocked to form flexible yet impenetrable defenses. Bronze, a hallmark of ancient metalwor...